Specifications

Figure 9 shows various CD-320 device configurations that can be assembled using multiple
CoolMax CD-320and multiple hard disk drives.
Figure 9 - Cascading drive configuration options
Note: The SATA link between cascaded nodes in a cascaded configuration is not Port Multiplier aware.
Therefore, although it is possible to configure lower-level nodes (subordinate to the top-level mode) to
use JBOD, SAFE33 or SAFE50 Storage Policies, only the first volume for that node will be visible to any
upper-level node.
When creating virtual volumes with a cascaded configuration, ensure that all hard disk drives are
properly installed and that all SATA connections between the cascaded nodes are secure. You
must then configure the desired storage policy on the bottom-most nodes in the cascaded
configuration, before configuring any of the upper-level nodes. After the bottom-most nodes
have been configured and become ready, you can configure the middle nodes. Finally, the top-
level node must be configured after all subordinate nodes are ready. You can specify the storage
policy for each node through the SteelVine Manager GUI or by setting the rotary switch and
pressing the Mode Change push-button.
If you wish to change the storage policy for any node or expand the storage capacity of any node
by adding more hard disks or CoolMax CD-320 s, you must reconfigure each node that has
changed in the same bottom-up manner, and you must press the mode change push-button to
place the new storage policy into effect. The top-level node must be the last item that is changed
in a cascaded configuration. In addition, you may need to perform some supplemental steps on
your host system so the expanded volumes can be recognized at the file system and OS level.
Refer to Appendix A, B or C for information about to perform those steps on Windows,
Macintosh and Linux systems.
Cascading also allows you to combine multiple CoolMax CD-320 to create more advanced
RAID configurations for high-availability, such as RAID 10 (striping and mirroring), as shown
in Figure 10. The top-level node should be set to FAST (RAID 0) mode for striping, and the
subordinate nodes should be set to SAFE (RAID 1). In this configuration, the subordinate nodes
provide the protection of mirroring, and the top-level node provides the performance benefits of
striping. If one of the hard disk drives ever fails, the SAFE volumes from the subordinate nodes
will still be valid, and the RAID 10 set will still be available. When the failed hard disk drive is
replaced, the subordinate node will automatically rebuild the mirrored volume.
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